For the first time ever, we’ve now lived in a house long enough that we have to start replacing major appliances. Yep, two full decades and counting. Last summer it was the hot water heater and this fall the dishwasher. I researched, shopped, googled, asked friends and any “experts” I could find who would answer my questions, and finally picked the one I wanted.

Then the store delivered an entirely different model.

But that’s not even the worst of my story (though that story is waaaaayyyyy longer and may be a post in the future). No, my cautionary tale today is about how we are so grateful to finally have another working appliance that we’ve had to baby to keep it running, or just outright do without when it finally doesn’t want to do its job anymore, that we didn’t think about what we might still need from it before the appliance was hauled out of the door.

When this shiny new stainless steel dishwasher was delivered, and after the installer came in to work his magic and get the appliance humming quietly under my cabinet, he had me sign that the installation had been completed then slipped the dolly under the edge of my old machine and wheeled it out the side door of my house, down the steps, and right into his truck to carry it off to the place all old dishwashers go to retire. That’s when I made the mistake that I’m kicking myself about. I let him go without removing the basket for silverware.

See, here’s the thing–I’m used to leaving all major appliances and their accouterments behind whenever we sell the house and move. My mind was still locked in the “it must be whole for the next user” mode. While I knew no one was likely to use our machine later, I didn’t really think about it. I didn’t think about the fact that we almost always have more silverware than we have basket space to hold it for a wash cycle (unless we overload it and risk nothing getting clean). What’s worse, the new segmented basket in my new machine is actually even a bit smaller than my old one.

Sigh…It’s not like I got extra credit because I sent all the parts off with the old dishwasher. Heck, I was feeling lucky that they hauled the thing off for free. The old basket wouldn’t have matched, I agree, and it would have had to be shoehorned into one of the other sides when I needed to use it–but I could have always washed ALL of my silverware, even on holidays when everyone seems to use three times their weight in spoons and forks!

My hope in writing this is that others will learn from my mistake. When an appliance dies and they’re just going to take it away to dump it anyway, remove ANYTHING you think you might be able to use later. You really don’t get brownie points for doing otherwise, and you could save yourself from years worth of repeating I-should-haves. That’s all. Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and I’ll keep my mouth shut now. Besides, I have extra spoons to wash to keep me busy.

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About ritterames

Ritter Ames is the USA TODAY bestselling author of both the Organized Mysteries and Bodies of Art Mystery series, and lives atop a high green hill in the country with her husband and Labrador retriever. She spends each day globe-trotting the world from her laptop with Pandora blasting into her earbuds, often with the dog snoring at her feet. Much like her mysteries, Ritter’s favorite vacations start in London, then spiral out in every direction. She’s been known to plan trips after researching new books, and keeps a list of “can’t miss” foods to taste along the way.

Oh, Helga, I am in awe of you. I’ll bet you and your kids had great conversations washing and drying dishes through the years. I missed out on that loading up the dishwasher, but I would have likely had dirty dishes in the sink most days otherwise. LOL! One of the first “discussions” hubby and I had after we got married was my contention that if you dirty a dish there’s no reason why you can’t rinse it and put it immediately in the dishwasher. It took a couple of years to get him completely trained (ha, ha) but I get no arguments now. Thanks for stopping by.

First we had a small kitchen area so there was only room for two people! So having two kids…..you guessed that one I’m sure! BUT we had a tiny little problem one evening! My husband and I were in the living room and all of a sudden we heard our daughter laughing then screaming! As we ran towards the kitchen we saw a spray of water arch across the room and hit the wall and my daughter standing by the kitchen window dripping wet( I think I forgot to mention it was summer and the windows were open) She had the sprayer shooting it out the window at my son, who was supposed to be helping his sister do dishes. Instead, he was spraying her through the screen with the garden hose! BTW….she started it by using the sprayer on him first and he ran out the door and saw the hose and as they say the rest is history! It wasn’t funny right away but we all had a good laugh as the four of us cleaned the kitchen that night! Oh, and it never happened again but I do have a story of their painting party one night when my husband and I were at work! I’ll tell you sometime!